Monday, October 01, 2012

Back in the day (2 months ago), I could get competitive quotes from several carriers using the application of just one. Apparently, the carriers think the new ObamaTax Exchanges are preferable to (icky) agents, though, because that's now a thing of the past.

Professional agents "pre-screen" groups so that the quotes have some basis in reality. If a carrier has no medical (underwriting) information, then they're just going to use their "book" rates without adjusting for folks who are, for example, pregnant or diabetic (or both!). These quotes are worse than useless, because they will never reflect what the actual rate will be. By using one carrier's application to obtain quotes with several carriers, we could provide meaningful quotes to our clients.

Well, that used to be the case.

Now, if I want (need) competitive quotes, I can no longer use just one carrier's application. Sure, some carriers will still accept (for now) another carrier's application for rating purposes, but this number is quickly dwindling.

Of course, I can pay an extra fee to a 3rd party to collect that information for me, which is (one supposes) convenient. But what with MLR and carriers looking to cut costs, this is hardly an economically viable alternative to those of us in the (soon to be gone anyway) small group market.

It's almost as if the carriers want to be marketing through the ObamaTax Exchanges.

Back in the day (2 months ago), I could get competitive quotes from several carriers using the application of just one. Apparently, the carriers think the new ObamaTax Exchanges are preferable to (icky) agents, though, because that's now a thing of the past.

Professional agents "pre-screen" groups so that the quotes have some basis in reality. If a carrier has no medical (underwriting) information, then they're just going to use their "book" rates without adjusting for folks who are, for example, pregnant or diabetic (or both!). These quotes are worse than useless, because they will never reflect what the actual rate will be. By using one carrier's application to obtain quotes with several carriers, we could provide meaningful quotes to our clients.

Well, that used to be the case.

Now, if I want (need) competitive quotes, I can no longer use just one carrier's application. Sure, some carriers will still accept (for now) another carrier's application for rating purposes, but this number is quickly dwindling.

Of course, I can pay an extra fee to a 3rd party to collect that information for me, which is (one supposes) convenient. But what with MLR and carriers looking to cut costs, this is hardly an economically viable alternative to those of us in the (soon to be gone anyway) small group market.

It's almost as if the carriers want to be marketing through the ObamaTax Exchanges.